Belfast Film Festival 2025: Housejackers
Set in the gritty party scene of Belfast, Housejackers tests the bonds of two foster brothers, Raymond and Jerdy. Raymond lives in a flat with middle-class students, struggling through a job with an insufferable superior, trying his best to slug through his GCSE Maths. His life is quiet, filled with quaint board games and the occasional trip to the club. It’s on one of these nights he crosses paths with a figure of his past – an old foster brother he has long lost contact with. Jerdy is wild and directionless, with a taste for drugs and taking things too far. Upon meeting Raymond, he snakes his way back into his younger brother’s life. The students are not impressed by Jerdy’s loud music and constant state of high. Meanwhile, Raymond begins to slip back into old habits, assailed by the whirlwind that is Jerdy. What initially seems like a fun time bonding with his older brother takes a dark and twisted turn, and things spiral out of control for Raymond – stuck in an endless loop of Jerdy’s manipulation and violent threats.
Housejackers explores familiar themes of instability, stagnation and the toxic friendships that continuously keep people down. This is effectively displayed in the relationship between Raymond and Jerdy. Their pivotal reunion, which catalyses the catastrophic events that follow, is set with Raymond standing by the bar under low and dull yellow lighting. From across the room, neon-drenched with laser party lights bouncing off him, Jerdy emerges. This signals the divide in these brothers’ lives: Raymond, with his well-behaved student flatmates and his efforts to get his life in order, and Jerdy, still coasting by on parties and drugs. This moment visually expresses the distance between the brothers – their goals and standing in life, their personalities, and the fraught relationship between them. Rian Lennon’s film has an affinity for parallelism – like the brothers and their constant use of “chicken shit” to goad each other into doing outrageous things. The scene of the two standing across from each other is no different, being recalled in the feature’s final act when Raymond finally takes a stand against Jerdy.
The two lead performances in Housejackers are outstanding. John Travers excels as Jerdy, capturing his two-faced and complex nature. He’s manipulative and volatile, but there’s an added softness to him that’s sympathetic and almost pathetic. But he has a commanding charisma; the audience can buy why Raymond continually falls for his trap. Finnian Garbutt strikes a good balance in portraying this lost individual in Raymond and the extremes he can and will go to when pushed enough by Jerdy. There’s nuance in his efforts to try and live a good life while also bearing the pressures of his work and the judgment of his flatmates. While many can empathise with his predicament, Garbutt plays Raymond in a way that maintains his vicious quality. The rest of the cast, specifically the three students Lucy, Shauna and Bobby, are mostly accessories and collateral in this psychological warfare between brothers. While there are glimpses of their quirks and individual traits, there’s not enough space and time for them to truly shine. Bobby is the only exception; his snobby idiosyncrasies inject a bit of comedy into the feature.
Housejackers is an intimate story of found family and the strained relationship between foster brothers. But it speaks on universal themes, especially raising questions about what one can do with the toxic people in their lives. It’s both fun and dark, capturing the honest grit and heart of Belfast urban life.
Mae Trumata
Housejackers does not have a release date yet. For further information about the event, visit the Belfast Film Festival website here.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
RSS